Getting Better with Jonathan Van Ness

Hold on to your lace fronts, because the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, Sasha Colby, is on this week’s Pretty Curious! Sasha Colby joins Jonathan to talk about her origins in pageants and all things drag: where the industry is going, her advice for up-and-coming performers and some of her favorite products. Plus, she spills the tea on her ponytail line: Sasha Colby Hair! Sasha Colby is an American drag legend and beauty pageant competitor. In 2012, she won the Miss Continental competition, one of the most prestigious drag queen pageant systems in the world. In 2023, she was crowned the winner of Season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race. She is also the creator of Sasha Colby Hair, which is a collection of luxury ponytail extensions. Sasha is on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok @sashacolby. You can find more information about Sasha Colby Hair here. Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to learn more about the products from this episode, or head to JonathanVanNess.com for the transcript.  Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Find books from Getting Curious and Pretty Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With November right around the corner, many people are expressing frustration with our current political leaders. So this week civic leader Lauren Baer tells us all about how we can all get involved in politics to create the change we want to see! Is electoral politics for me? What are all the different roles in a campaign? Where can I get started if I don’t already have a degree in politics? Lauren Baer (she/her) is a nationally-recognized civic leader who has built her career generating social impact at scale. She currently serves as Managing Partner of Arena, where she leads the Arena team in convening, training, and supporting the next generation of candidates and campaign staff. An attorney and foreign policy expert, Lauren served for six years as an official in the Obama administration and was the 2018 Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in Florida's 18th District. If you want to find your place in politics or connect with others ready to make a difference, join Lauren, her team, and hundreds of other passionate folks in Atlanta, Georgia from April 20-21 for 2024’s most important convening of progressive changemakers at Arena Summit. Visit arena.run/gettingcurious to learn more and receive 20% your registration. You can follow Lauren on Instagram @laurenebaer and X @laurenbaer. You can find more information about Arena here. Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, nutritionist and holistic wellness expert Kimberly Snyder teaches us about how taking care of ourselves on the inside impacts how we look on the outside. Kimberly walks Jonathan through simple and practical shifts we can all make to take better care of ourselves. From designing morning routines that set the tone for the rest of the day, to finding balance in how we nourish ourselves in a culture that loves extremes, we go deep into the importance of approaching beauty holistically. Kimberly Snyder is a multiple-time New York Times bestselling author, spiritual and meditation teacher, international speaker, nutritionist, and holistic wellness expert.  She is also the host of the top-rated Feel Good Podcast with Kimberly Snyder on the Podcast One Network (with over 24 million total downloads). She has worked with dozens of top celebrities to feel their best, including Drew Barrymore, Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, and Channing Tatum. She is regularly featured by numerous national media outlets, including Good Morning America, The Today Show, and The New York Times. She is also the founder of Solluna®, a holistic lifestyle brand that offers supplements, wellness products, meditation courses, and non-toxic skincare products. Kimberly is on Instagram @_kimberlysnyder. Solluna is on Instagram @sollunabyks. Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to learn more about the products from this episode, or head to JonathanVanNess.com for the transcript. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Find books from Getting Curious and Pretty Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you’re on TikTok or Insta, you’ve probably seen Alexis Nikole Nelson aka BlackForager sharing a recipe for acorn flour, or demonstrating how to identify onion grass. We’re obsessed with her, and we NEED to know more about foraging. So on this week’s episode, we’re getting answers to the questions we’re dying to know: what can we forage based on where we live? What are dangerous plants we should avoid? And what’s the history behind America’s foraging laws? Alexis Nikole Nelson is a forager and outdoor educator using her platform to yell about all the edible plants hiding in plain sight! Her foraging tips, recipe videos, and food history lessons have led Alexis to amass over 5 million dedicated fans across platforms. Her mom said she had to list her accolades so she’s awkwardly going to put them here: James Beard Award for “Best Social Media” 2022, Forbes 30 Under 30, TikTok Tastemaker, Fortune Magazine’s Creator 25 2021. You can follow Alexis on Instagram @blackforager, YouTube @BlackForager and Tiktok @alexisnikole Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Poor Things fans, this episode is for you! Jonathan sat down with the film’s costume designer, Holly Waddington, to learn all about her designing process and inspiration. From giant sleeves to working with Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos, we learned all about what it takes to be an Oscar-nominated costume designer! Holly Waddington is an Oscar® nominee and BAFTA winner for her work on Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things. Her costume designs for film and TV also include the pilot episode of Hulu’s The Great, written and produced by Tony Macnamara, Lady Macbeth directed by William Oldroyd (which won the BIFA for Best Costume and was nominated for a Critics Circle Award for Technical Achievement for Costume). Holly has worked in Theatre, Dance and Visual Art, creating costumes, sets and installations for productions at Rambert, The Royal Ballet, Complicite, and Handspring, working with notable directors and choreographers including: Kim Brandstrup, The Quay Brothers, Natalie Abrahami and Ben Duke. Holly is on Instagram @hollywaddingtoncostume. Poor Things is on Instagram and X @PoorThingsfilm. Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to learn more about the products from this episode, or head to JonathanVanNess.com for the transcript. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Find books from Getting Curious and Pretty Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Discussing the lack of universal healthcare in the US, health outcomes disparities, and racism in the healthcare system. Dr. Uché Blackstock shares insights on inequities, racial bias treatment outcomes, and the impact of historic injustices on marginalized communities.

Don’t freak out too much…Dr. Sandra Lee (aka Dr. Pimple Popper) is on Pretty Curious! On this episode, Dr. Lee tells Jonathan how she ended up with her very own hit TLC show, and her approach to dermatological care. We’re talking all about how to take care of our skin, common mistakes, and how to find the right dermatologist. Plus, find out the craziest thing she’s ever popped. Dr. Sandra Lee, also known as Dr. Pimple Popper, is a viral pimple-popping sensation and board-certified dermatologist based in Southern California. She is the star of her own hit TLC series, Dr. Pimple Popper, showcasing behind-the-scenes popping and heartwarming stories of the clients behind her viral videos. Dr. Lee is also founder of a solutions driven skincare line, SLMD Skincare. Dr. Lee is on Instagram @drsandralee and @drpimplepopper. You can find more information about her skincare line here. Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to learn more about the products from this episode, or head to JonathanVanNess.com for the transcript. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Find books from Getting Curious and Pretty Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sabrina Strings is back on Getting Curious with this stunning revelation: romance is dead! But was it ever really alive? Sabrina and Jonathan celebrate Valentine’s Day with a conversation about the origins and pitfalls of romance. How do you know if you’re in a situationship with a f*ckboy? How did Playboy promote anti-romantic ideals? And what could a world where romance fails, and sexual love prevails, actually look like? Sabrina Strings, Ph.D. is Professor and North Hall Chair of Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara. Her research examines race, gender, and embodiment in science, media, and medicine. She has been featured in dozens of venues, including BBC News, NPR, Vogue, and The New York Times. She is the author of the award-winning book Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia (NYU 2019). Her second book, The End of Love: Racism, Sexism & the Death of Romance was released in January 2024. Find her on the recently released Netflix docuseries The Black Beauty Effect. You can follow Sabrina on Instagram @YoginiBlack and Twitter @Sastrings. You can find more information about her work here. Her new book The End of Love: Racism, Sexism & the Death of Romance is available now. Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you’ve been wanting to color your hair, but don’t know what to expect, then you’ve come to the right place! On this week’s episode, L.A.’s go-to colorist, Liz Jung, and Jonathan talk all about hair color. How much should you expect to pay? How long will it take? And how can you prepare your hair for the transformation? Plus, find out which hair color trends Liz thinks are here to stay. Liz Jung is LA’s go-to colorist for blonde transformations. She was mentored by one of the most sought after hair colorists, Tracey Cunningham. Liz collaborates with Epres, and works at Mare salon in West Hollywood, which serves celebrity clients like Emma Stone, Natalie Portman, and Kathryn Hahn. Liz is on Instagram and TikTok @lizyjung. Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to learn more about the products from this episode, or head to JonathanVanNess.com for the transcript. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Find books from Getting Curious and Pretty Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Our theme music is also  composed by Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the last 54 years, marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I drug: a category that carries drastic criminal penalties and also includes hard drugs like heroin. But the Biden administration has the power to change that as scientists at the FDA are now recommending it be reclassified in a much less severe category. But Jonathan wonders, would descheduling marijuana be enough to solve all of the issues caused by the War on Drugs? Drug policy activist and attorney Shaleen Title joins Jonathan to answer that very question, and to explain some of the risks and rewards of federal marijuana legalization. Shaleen Title is an attorney and longtime drug policy activist who has been writing, passing, and implementing equitable cannabis laws for over 20 years. She is a former top regulator for the state of Massachusetts, where she served as commissioner of the Cannabis Control Commission from 2017 to 2020. Currently, her primary focus is running the nonprofit think tank Parabola Center, which pushes for cannabis policies to protect people rather than corporate profits. You can follow Shaleen on Instagram @shaleentitle. You can find Parabola Center on Instagram @parabolacenter and TikTok @parabolacenter. You can find Parabola Center’s latest paper here. Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN. Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com. Find books from Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn. Our senior producers are Chris McClure and Julia Melfi. Our associate producer is Allison Weiss. Our engineer is Nathanael McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall. Our theme music is “Freak” by QUIÑ; for more, head to TheQuinCat.com. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices